For the past few weeks I’ve been taking photos for Austin Vinyl, a new website that’ll be up, running, and telling you all you need to know about the local record store scene very soon. It has been great discovering so many stores that I didn’t know about, but the temptation of all that vinyl means my bank account isn’t speaking to me at the moment.
Here’s your own brief tour of the six stores we hit. All these photos + more are here.
First and largest, Waterloo Records. Doubly dangerous in that I went weeks ago, then again for Spoon, and couldn’t resist buying both times.
Record count: Anni Rossi – Rockwell, HEALTH – Get Color, Dengue Fever – Escape From Dragon House
Cheapo, right up the street
Record count: Radiohead – They Might Be Wrong (live recordings)
Brief interlude to say that I have absolutely loved these recordings for years, and am so happy to finally have them on vinyl. The versions of Like Spinning Plates and True Love Waits on here are so, so good.
Backspin Records, my hands-down favorite new find. I actually had to stop looking, because it was getting more and more difficult to choose which albums I should buy and which I could wait on.
Also, they have a Billy Idol wall.
Record count: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – Broom, HEALTH – s/t, Spoon – Kill the Moonlight, one more I can’t remember
End of An Ear
Record count: Bedřich Smetana (who had a thoroughly depressing life), the Chariots of Fire soundtrack, the Roadie soundtrack with its awesome classic rock, LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
Friends of Sound, where I stumbled into by accident last sxsw and ended up with some Billie Holiday and Holy Fuck… great location also, right off of South Congress.
Record count: Nina Simone – Best Of Collection, Dirty Dancing Soundtrack (hell yeah!)
Breakaway Records, aka ohmygod so many awesome $1 albums wow.
Record count: Dave Brubeck – Solo Piano Songs, Cindy Lauper, Beatles – 1967-1970
The sad thing is, I probably bought even more that I forgot about… vinyl love is a sickness, I tell you!
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago. Add a comment
Thursday at Baby Blue Studios, I picked up Brazos’ album, Phosphorescent Blues, and haven’t been able to stop playing it since.
A fan of Brazos for a few years, I’d heard various versions of many of the songs already, live or on their MySpace. The album versions are much more polished, tied together with piano by Jared Van Fleet (formerly of Voxtrot) and some great post- work.
The songs I’ve loved since first hearing them are still there: Avignon, Day Glo, For So Long Now. But the previously un-heard ones are quickly gaining: Downtown Boys in particular is just gorgeous, pulled along by softly surging piano and wistful lyrics about a lackadaisical life of late nights and mornings after (listen to it, and others, at their site).
They’re about to head out on tour with White Denim, whose album Fits drops tomorrow. The Brazos LP officially hits stores late November, but you can get it from ‘em at live shows now. Catch them at the Mohawk this Saturday for the tour kickoff, or around the country:
10/24 – Mohawk – Austin, TX
10/31 – Granada Theater – Dallas, TX
11/02 – Firebird – St Louis, MO
11/03 – Jackpot – Lawrence, KS
11/04 – 400 Bar – Minneapolis, MN
11/05 – High Noon Saloon – Madison, WI
11/06 – Lincoln Hall – Chicago, IL
11/07 – Grog Shop – Cleveland, OH
11/09 – Horseshoe Tavern – Toronto, ON
11/10 – Il Motore – Montreal, QC
11/11 – TT the Bears – Cambridge, MA
11/12 – Music Hall of Williamsburg – Brooklyn, NY
11/13 – Kung Fu Necktie – Philadelphia, PA
11/14 – Rock N Roll Hotel – Washington, DC
11/16 – The Basement – Nashville, TN
11/17 – The Bottletree – Birmingham, AL
11/18 – The Earl – Atlanta, GA
11/19 – The Social – Orlando, FL
11/20 – Cafe Eleven – St Augustine, FL
11/22 – One Eyed Jacks – New Orleans, LA
Posted 4 months, 3 weeks ago. Add a comment
(Technically this is a photo of Bradford Cox with Deerhunter… I don’t have one of him with Atlas Sound yet! Waiting for Fun Fun Fun Fest.)
Atlas Sound is Bradford Cox of Deerhunter’s side project, because this guy apparently just can’t stop creating gorgeous music. Anyways, the sophomore album, Logos, is dropping next week, with a bonus disc if you purchase it via the label. Sweet!
(via Pitchfork)